The NHS trust that ran Stafford Hospital has pleaded guilty to criminal charges in relation to four deaths.

Charges were brought by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) against the now defunct Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. There were four allegations of health and safety breaches relating to patients who died between October 2005 and May last year. The trust remains in place as a legal entity but was dissolved last November. A new trust began to run the hospital, now called County Hospital, on 1 November 2014.

The HSE said the charges related to the deaths of:

Patrick Daly, aged 89, on 13 May 2014

Edith Bourne, aged 83, on 22 July 2013

Ivy Bunn, aged 90, on 6 November 2008

Lillian Tucker, aged, 77 on 21 October 2005

The court heard three of the deaths occurred after falls, while another happened after a patient was given penicillin despite hospital staff being told she was allergic to the antibiotic.